Last night’s dinner decision was made, essentially, because I didn’t want to go to the store. Simple. Practical even. It’s how a lot of food choices get made around here. It’s also how some of my best meals and recipes have come into existence. But I can’t make every food choice based on the contents of my cupboard and K really wanted spaghetti. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. Of course she wants spaghetti. Who doesn’t want spaghetti?

Knowing that we’re likely to cook a big meal on Sunday. And knowing that she’ll help make the food. And knowing that spaghetti is easy. And that she’ll eat it with no complaints. I offered to run to the store this morning while she’s at dance to pick up everything we’ll need for a spaghetti dinner tomorrow night. After a quick inventory of the kitchen I was able to determine that the only thing we actually needed was a yellow onion. Perfect. Couldn’t be easier. A yellow onion and then we’ll have everything needed to make an entire meal.

But you know… if I’m going to the store anyway I might as well pick up a few other things. After all I’ll need to eat dinner tonight too. After a little thinking I decided on steak, salad, and potatoes for dinner tonight since I already have potatoes and salad stuff.  And I made a mental note that we’re out of raw eggs. Well that’s not a lot at all. Three things. An onion, a steak, and some eggs.  Realizing how short the list actually was and recognizing that we were in a bit of a hurry to get K to her class I opted to skip the pen and paper and keep the important knowledge of what we need from the store in my head. It’s where I keep so much other important information, so what could go wrong? An onion, a steak, and some eggs.

There was some riveting conversation about chores and obligations as we walked to class but my focus was crystal clear. Steak tonight. Spaghetti tomorrow. It started sprinkling as I walked. And then rain started in earnest. And I began to admire my lovely polka-dot trench coat. And then started thinking about my upcoming trip to Phoenix for work on which I will not need my trench coat. Because it’ll be in the 90s and dry. And that  made me think about ice cream. God I love ice cream. And then I started to think about cookies, because cookies and ice cream are natural partners. And then I was a little sad that there’s not a lot of variety in the gluten-free ice cream sandwich market. I made a mental note to look for GF cookies to go with the ice cream in the freezer at home.

And then I started to think about packing for my trip. I wondered how I was doing on travel supplies and struggled to recall if I have a travel sized bottle of lens solution. And then I remembered that all but one of my phone charging cables was dead. Oh, and I probably need sunblock. And as I walked into the store I was making a mental note to make an amazon order in time for stuff to arrive before my trip.

So by the time I started shopping I was in a slightly different head space. I gave myself a good firm talking to as I stepped into the produce department. A reminder that I didn’t want to have to go back to the store before dinner. So I should remember what I was there for.

“Steak for dinner. Steak for dinner. Steak for dinner.”

I repeated it over and over in my head as I noticed the baby spinach was on sale. I thought some sautéed baby spinach would be a better compliment to steak than a salad so I grabbed some. And then I saw the beautiful deep purple eggplant. Well K wanted us to make spaghetti for dinner tomorrow. And while she’s happy to eat the gluten-free spaghetti I don’t really like it. So placing an eggplant in the basket I repeated my mantra for this trip.

“Steak for dinner. Steak for dinner. Steak for dinner.”

While heading for the steak I noticed some nice Italian sausages, I thought those would be lovely with the eggplant. Into the basket they went as I repeated the chant in my head.

“Steak for dinner. Steak for dinner. Steak for dinner.”

I picked up a lovely New York steak and it went into the basket with the rest.

I wandered toward the cookies and then remembered in a flash that I used the last two eggs while making fried rice last night. I veered right towards the eggs and snatched them up. Then back to the cookies. Still, for some reason, chanting about the steak.

“Steak for dinner. Steak for dinner. Steak for dinner.”

I looked at the cookies in the bakery section. Every single package of them. There were 3 that were gluten-free, all from the same company. I’d tried them all at one point or another. No, no thank you.

So I headed to the big cookie and cracker aisle chanting.

“Steak for dinner. Steak for dinner. Steak for dinner.”

At this point I think I was muttering because a young mother steered her toddler out of my way while eyeing me cautiously. I surveyed the cookie aisle for GF options I might not have noticed in the past. Nothing. But I wanted something sweet… so I headed toward the candy. But it was all in big packages so I wandered toward the check stand where I knew I could find a single serving candy packages. And as I was staring at the options the checker, who had no one in her line, said hello to me. I took it as a sign. I didn’t need any candy. And there weren’t any cookies. So I checked out.

And then three blocks from the store I realized I’d gone to the store for an onion… DAMNIT!

But that’s okay because as it turns out I don’t have tomatoes either.